Missouri has one more day off to see what will happen. They'll face the winner of Tennessee/Ole Miss, which will almost certainly be Tennessee. Which is actually probably a good thing.
Don't misinterpret. Ole Miss would be an easier opponent and Missouri would have a far better chance of winning. So if the Rebels manage to knock off the Vols (and almost certainly there will be one upset out of the four games today), nobody at Mizzou is going to be sad.
But here's why Tennessee winning is just fine:
Missouri opens the day as a 7/8 seed by most prognosticators. BracketMatrix lists 99 projections today. Missouri is a 7 or 8 in 90 of them (an 8 seed in 49, a 7 seed in 41). If Tennessee wins today, nothing that can happen at the SEC Tournament can damage Missouri in terms of seeding. Every potential game the Tigers would have left (barring a run by LSU or Florida) would be a Quad 1 game. Losing one of those games isn't going to hurt Missouri. Winning them might not help much, but winning two or three of them certainly could bump the Tigers up a seed line.
Going into the tournament, I'd set the bar for "good weekend" as winning on Friday. If you get to Saturday, assuming you're playing Bama, you've played to your seed and whatever happens after that is a bonus. Losing to Tennessee tomorrow wouldn't be a disaster by any means, but it's never fun after all the buildup to a tournament to lose the first game you play.
Here is Mizzou's updated team sheet
As for today's games:
Mississippi State vs Florida, noon: The Bulldogs probably punch their ticket with a win. Florida wasn't great with Colin Castleton, but without him, they look like a team ready to be done and regroup.
Ole Miss vs Tennessee, 2:30: Talked about this one above. It would be a big surprise to see the Rebels win, but it's not impossible. They've actually played pretty well down the stretch and Tennessee's style keeps a lot of teams in games. Plus, the Vols are still in just their second game without Zakai Zeigler. Would pick Tennessee, but keep an eye on Ole Miss.
Arkansas vs Auburn, 6:00: Auburn is definitely in the tournament. Arkansas probably is, but the resume leaves something to be desired. They're the anti-Mizzou. They're 18 in the NET, but just 46 in strength of record. They could use another strong win. Both of these coaches have been good in tournament settings. I actually like the winner of this one (I think it's Auburn, but wouldn't bet a dime on it) to take down Texas A&M tomorrow.
LSU vs Vanderbilt, 8:30: LSU has won only two games in 2023. One of them was yesterday and the other was against Vanderbilt. Credit to them for getting here, but it's tough to see it continuing. The Commodores are a little like Texas A&M last year. They have to at least get to Saturday and probably to Sunday to give themselves a chance to get in the NCAA Tournament. And even then, they might find out the conference tournament doesn't actually even matter.
Don't misinterpret. Ole Miss would be an easier opponent and Missouri would have a far better chance of winning. So if the Rebels manage to knock off the Vols (and almost certainly there will be one upset out of the four games today), nobody at Mizzou is going to be sad.
But here's why Tennessee winning is just fine:
Missouri opens the day as a 7/8 seed by most prognosticators. BracketMatrix lists 99 projections today. Missouri is a 7 or 8 in 90 of them (an 8 seed in 49, a 7 seed in 41). If Tennessee wins today, nothing that can happen at the SEC Tournament can damage Missouri in terms of seeding. Every potential game the Tigers would have left (barring a run by LSU or Florida) would be a Quad 1 game. Losing one of those games isn't going to hurt Missouri. Winning them might not help much, but winning two or three of them certainly could bump the Tigers up a seed line.
Going into the tournament, I'd set the bar for "good weekend" as winning on Friday. If you get to Saturday, assuming you're playing Bama, you've played to your seed and whatever happens after that is a bonus. Losing to Tennessee tomorrow wouldn't be a disaster by any means, but it's never fun after all the buildup to a tournament to lose the first game you play.
Here is Mizzou's updated team sheet
As for today's games:
Mississippi State vs Florida, noon: The Bulldogs probably punch their ticket with a win. Florida wasn't great with Colin Castleton, but without him, they look like a team ready to be done and regroup.
Ole Miss vs Tennessee, 2:30: Talked about this one above. It would be a big surprise to see the Rebels win, but it's not impossible. They've actually played pretty well down the stretch and Tennessee's style keeps a lot of teams in games. Plus, the Vols are still in just their second game without Zakai Zeigler. Would pick Tennessee, but keep an eye on Ole Miss.
Arkansas vs Auburn, 6:00: Auburn is definitely in the tournament. Arkansas probably is, but the resume leaves something to be desired. They're the anti-Mizzou. They're 18 in the NET, but just 46 in strength of record. They could use another strong win. Both of these coaches have been good in tournament settings. I actually like the winner of this one (I think it's Auburn, but wouldn't bet a dime on it) to take down Texas A&M tomorrow.
LSU vs Vanderbilt, 8:30: LSU has won only two games in 2023. One of them was yesterday and the other was against Vanderbilt. Credit to them for getting here, but it's tough to see it continuing. The Commodores are a little like Texas A&M last year. They have to at least get to Saturday and probably to Sunday to give themselves a chance to get in the NCAA Tournament. And even then, they might find out the conference tournament doesn't actually even matter.
